Ion accelerators with closed electron drift, also known as "Hall effect thrusters" (HETs), have been used as a source of directed ions for plasma assisted manufacturing and for spacecraft propulsion. Representative space applications are: (1) orbit changes of spacecraft from one altitude or inclination to another; (2) atmospheric drag compensation; and (3) "stationkeeping" where propulsion is used to counteract the natural drift of orbital position due to effects such as solar wind and the passage of the moon. HETs generate thrust by supplying a propellant gas to an annular gas discharge area. Such area has a closed end which includes an anode and an open end through which the gas is discharged. Free electrons are introduced into the area of the exit end from a cathode. The electrons are induced to drift circumferentially in the annular discharge area by a generally radially extending magnetic field in combination with a longitudinal electric field. The electrons collide with the propellant gas atoms, creating ions which are accelerated outward due to the longitudinal electric field. Reaction force is thereby generated to propel the spacecraft.
It has long been known that the longitudinal gradient of magnetic flux strength has an important influence on operational parameters of HETs, such as the presence or absence of turbulent oscillations, interactions between the ion stream and walls of the thruster, beam focusing and/or divergence, and so on. Such effects have been studied for a long time. See, for example, Morozov et al., "Plasma Accelerator With Closed Electron Drift and Extended Acceleration Zone," Soviet Physics-Technical Physics, Vol. 17, No. 1, pages 38-45 (July 1972); and Morozov et al., "Effect of the Magnetic Field on a Closed-Electron-Drift Accelerator," Soviet Physics-Technical Physics, Vol. 17, No. 3, pages 482-487 (September 1972). The work of Professor Morozov and his colleagues has been generally accepted as establishing the benefits of providing a radial magnetic field with increasing strength from the anode toward the exit end of the accelerator. For example, H. R. Kaufman in his article "Technology of Closed-Drift Thrusters," AIAA Journal, Vol. 23, No. 1, pages 78-87 (July 1983), characterizes the work of Morozov et al. as follows:
The efficiency of a long acceleration channel thus is improved by concentrating more of the total magnetic field near the exhaust plane, in effect making the channel shorter. Another interpretation, perhaps equivalent, is that ions produced in the upstream portion of a long channel have little chance of escape without striking the channel walls. Concentration of the magnetic field at the upstream end of the channel therefore should be expected to concentrate ion production further upstream, thereby decreasing the electrical efficiency.
Id. at 82-83. For experimental purposes, Morozov et al. achieved different profiles for the radial magnetic field by controlling the current to coils of separate electromagnets. For a given magnetic source (electromagnet or permanent magnets), other ways to affect the profile of the magnetic field are configuring the physical parameters of magnetic-permeable elements in the magnetic path (such as positioning and concentrating magnetic-permeable elements at the exit end of the accelerator), and by magnetic "screening" or shunts which can be interposed between the source(s) of the magnetic field and areas where less field strength is desired, such as near the anode. For example, in their paper titled "Effect of the Characteristics of a Magnetic Field on the Parameters of an Ion Current at the Output of an Accelerator with Closed Electron Drift," Sov. Phys. Tech. Phys., Vol. 26, No. 4 (April 1981), Gavryushin and Kim describe altering the longitudinal gradient of the magnetic field intensity by varying the degree of screening of the accelerator channel. Their conclusion was that magnetic field characteristics in the accelerator channel have a significant impact on the divergence of the ion plasma stream.
There does not appear to be any current dispute that the longitudinal gradient of magnetic field strength in HETs is important, and that it is desirable to concentrate or intensify the magnetic field at or adjacent to the exit plane as compared to the magnetic field strength farther upstream.